Japan, Russia to create "council of wise men" to ease ties

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (AFP) - Japan and Russia are to set up a "council of wise men" to iron out differences between the two countries, notably the obstacles that have prevented them from signing a post-World War II peace treaty, a top Russian official said Monday.

The council will co-opt senior public figures to generate new ideas and approaches to developing closer Russo-Japanese ties, presidential administration chief Sergei Prikhodko said at a regional summit in Bangkok after a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

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The Japanese leader, questioned by Putin as to the council's remit, said it would cover a broad range of issues including the development of economic and cultural ties "and of course the (Russo-Japanese) peace treaty," Prikhodko said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Nearly 60 years after the close of World War II, Moscow and Tokyo have been unable to reach agreement on signing a formal peace treaty because of a dispute over four southern Kuril islands, seized by Soviet troops in the dying days of the conflict and claimed by Japan as part of its Northern Territories.

The issue has hobbled efforts to boost investment in the Russian economy at a time when Japanese businessmen have shown increasing interest in developing Russia's resource-rich Far Eastern region, including the oil and gas deposits off the island of Sakhalin.

Tokyo is also pressing Russia to build a five-billion dollar oil pipeline to Nakhodka on the Sea of Japan, reducing its dependence on supplies from the Middle East.

Putin, quoted by Prikhodko, said the new joint council, a compact body of influential figures, would be headed by former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who he said had good contacts with Japan.

Separately, Koizumi noted in his talks with Putin that Russo-Japanese trade had increased by 30 percent over the past six months, Interfax reported.

Putin added that political consultations on difficult issues involving the two countries, including the proposed peace treaty, were being actively continued.

bb/zak/gk

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